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The corner of Bay and King streets in the heart of Canada’s financial district.
The corner of Bay and King streets in the heart of Canada’s financial district.
(KEVIN VAN PAASSEN/THE GLOBE AND MAIL)

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Three cheers for boring banking systems

Boring and safe – but not as safe as they seem. Politicians and regulators would love to inhabit a world where banks take deposits and lend locally, and touch none of the highly leveraged, high-yield (if ultimately worthless) stuff that trashed the balance sheets of U.S. and European banks. But can a new world of dull, heavily capitalized, uber-regulated lenders offer the services clients want, or the returns investors seek?